Do What Steve Jobs Did, Not What He Said
Mr. Newport earned one more reader about two years ago. I can’t remember how I found his blog Study Hacks, but I have irregularly found wisdom in his clear, useful writing there. One thing he’s been exploring is a bit of advice most western job-seekers are very familiar with: “Follow your passion.” Steve Jobs said you should do it, was he right?

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Boring is Productive
Routine. Ritual. Sameness. Habit. For some, these words are part of the perfect language of death. You are the free spirit, blowing around with the winds of opportunity and change, making it all up as you go. Fine. But is there a chance you’d be able to accomplish all that, and much more, if you were more … boring in certain respects?

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A Primer on Full-Screen Living (and Working)
Using the useful function of an operating system’s “full-screen mode” as a simple and creative metaphor, Mr. Babauta goes to work dismantling the myth of multitasking. Do you have too many tabs open (literal or otherwise)? Are you bouncing between your work and the endless siren song of notifications and dings? Stop. Go full-screen, on your computer and in your life.

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The Science of Procrastination
Is this chronic “putting off” that so many of us have mastered a character flaw? In some cases, it must be. At some point, we’ve got to just get over ourselves and get on with the job we’re responsible for. But there’s also something more subtle going on here … and it seems that there’s a science to it. What do you really want? When do you want it?

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Joss Whedon on Recharging Your Creative Batteries
The creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly advises that we don’t need a vacation, we just need to switch things up. Good advice on staying creative here, but forgive me if I dismiss the Hollywood mogul’s suggestion that I skip the vacation. Whedon, please.

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The Top 10 Social Networks for Creatives
In an updated version of “one of the most popular things” he’s ever published on Lateral Action, Mr. McGuinness makes an extensive appraisal of the state of social networking as it applies to creative people. As always, he goes beyond a mere listing, supplying an answer to the important question of why networking is important, and how a person can make the most of these content outposts.

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The Profound Power of One a Day
How do you eat an elephant? In a world where “swinging for the fences” is considered good advice and praiseworthy, are you neglecting the seemingly mundane daily tasks that can — over the span of a career — produce exponential results? Accomplish at least one smart, simple, strategic content marketing act every day (Mr. Godin even provides a suggested list). Tortoise, indeed.

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Ernest Hemingway’s Sales Letter
A little bonus link here … why? Because it points to a beer ad featuring Ernest Hemingway sitting comfortably in an adirondack chair, reading a book. An ad for which Papa wrote up a little sales letter. That’s why. Also: note the hilarious positioning of For Whom the Bell Tolls in the background.